Opt-in email marketing is a great way to reach future customers who want to do business with you. Using opt-in email marketing means that you can bypass other types of targeted lists which may contain the email addresses of people who aren't interested in your product.

Creating and using opt-in email lists for your business involves establishing a process to collect the email addresses of people interested in your products or services. Opt-in email telemarketing can save you money in marketing and advertising costs and give you the freedom to concentrate on closing sales. When you think about using opt-in email lists, consider the following:

1. Opt-in email lists contain only the email addresses of those who desire news about your business.

2. Opt-in emailing services are available to those who don't have the time to compile email lists on their own.

3. Double opt-in email marketing verifies a person's interest in your correspondence a second time.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Recognize opt-in email advertising as one of the best ways to find leads

Buying targeted email lists is one way to do business for some, but you'll likely see greater conversions if you use permission-based email marketing. When you use opt-in email marketing, you can be sure that everyone you contact wants to hear from you.

I recommend: Words in a Row and Steve White & Company offer a list of companies that sell opt-in email lists. Best Affiliate Programs briefly describes what opt-in email is, how it can benefit you and how you can apply it.

Invest in opt-in email marketing software to save time

You can use software designed for opt-in email management to make it easier to implement this type of lead generation. Certain types of software can act as an opt-in email marketing tool and create an opt-in email marketing list for you. The software often organizes your email marketing campaign according to specifications you set.

I recommend: Arial Software and Apex Pacific offer solutions to manage bulk opt-in email lists. Email Marketing Software allows you review tutorials on how to use opt-in email management software.

Consider using double opt-in email marketing services

Permission email marketing is a proven way to get to prospects who want information about your business and the services and products you offer. Double opt-in email marketing follows up on the initial contact with prospective clients or customers to ensure that they really want your marketing campaign sent to their email.

I recommend: Lencom.com helps you determine if emails on your list are valid, which takes you one step closer to confirming requests for information. Targetware offers a free trial of its software and captures emails from your website based on many variables. Benchmarkemail offers a quick comparison between opt-in and double opt-in and highlights some benefits of the latter.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Targeted email lists and opt-in email lists aren't the same. If you plan on buying email lists from companies, be sure to look for email lists that mention whether or not people opted in.

The popularity of email marketing as an effective online tool for businesses, organizations, associations and other groups to directly communicate with mass numbers of people continues to grow. One popular question we answer frequently is “how do I email my customers without spamming them?”

“Permission email marketing” describes the practice of regularly sending email messages to people, a.k.a subscribers, who request relevant messages from you to be delivered to their inboxes. This marketing method is the opposite of spamming, which is defined as the unscrupulous activity of blasting offending and inappropriate emails out to anyone and everyone with an email address to attempt to reach as many people as possible with often illegal and bogus offers.

Thanks to tightening requirements by Internet Service Providers, spamming is in decline and permission email marketing is seeing an online renaissance. If conducted correctly, permission email marketing can by far give you the easiest, fastest and most reliable way to directly communicate with your customers. If abused, however, it’s the quickest way to get blacklisted by not only your internet service provider, but any customers you happened to offend along the way by over-emailing irrelevant and non-applicable electronic junk mail to them.

So here is the best way to conduct a successful permission email campaign without spamming people.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Build a solid foundation: Your e-mail subscriber list

You can build a responsive email subscriber list in a number of ways. The fastest and most popular method is by using your website. An email subscription offer should be posted on each of your popular web pages touting signups for deep discounts, discontinued item alerts, seasonal items, service availabilities, grand openings, insider tips and any other offers your customers will find valuable and informative. This online form should have fields that record a subscriber’s first name and email, at the minimum, and should also be posted on each page of your website, preferably 'above the fold' in high visibility locations on your most popular web pages. A privacy information page telling customers what kind of email offers they can expect from you, and how often, should be also be included as part of your permission email campaign.

I recommend: There’s a free online service that creates HTML forms for websites and securely stores email subscriber addresses and first names. It can also be set to automatically notify you when there are new subscribers. It’s called Zeop and it’s found at http://www.zeop.com/

Don't spam and send only relevant messages that speak to customer needs

One thing that both corporations and small businesses have discovered about email marketing is that if you are not sending exciting, relevant messages that speak directly to your customers, the email list you worked so hard to build becomes bloated and lethargic in very short order. You must send the kind of offers that your customers want to open, read, print or bring back to your store. This means studying their online and in-store buying habits, and delivering the same kinds of pushes for these products and services.Exciting email messages might include: limited time coupons, service agreement deadlines, deep discounts on popular products and special offers on items specific customers have purchased in the past.Short on ideas that might inspire your customers? Then look in your own email inbox… has an email you’ve received lately inspired you to take action, like click on a website, pick up a phone, or purchase an item? If so, what did that email look like?

I recommend: Don't spam your subscribers, and encourage them not buy from spam emails. The "Spam. Don't Buy It" website not only explains the spammer business model to consumers, but it also has free logos to post on your website.

Immediately honor unsubscribes

Permission email campaigns call for honest and respectful relationships with the customers you are emailing. This includes not over emailing them, respecting their privacy by not selling their data, and honoring their unsubscribe requests. Federal law calls for removing customers that request to be unsubscribed from your list within 10 days, but unsubscribe requests in general should be processed as quickly as possible.

I recommend: Email Marketing Director is an easy-to-use email software that automatically processes unsubscribe requests. It's made by Arial Software.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  No matter the format of your email message, be it newsletter, printable coupon, service alert, direct product sell or message from the president… the permission email marketing format should be your method of choice. This practice is not only for the sake of long-term relationships with your valuable customers, but for the sake of continuing the future of email marketing as an effective, rapid, and affordable way to directly communicate with customers.

Opt-in email lists can expand your capabilities of marketing. Whether you have never used email marketing before or you have a regular email you send out each month, you can always find ways to improve it or discover something new to learn.

You may find one part of opt-in email advertising comes easy to you, but another part takes more time. With opt-in email marketing education and training, you can learn the various aspects that you need to know about this form of advertising.

1. Learn how to manage your list, including ways to get more people on it and how to keep it current.

2. Find which targeted opt-in email marketing software to choose and how to use it effectively.

3. Know how to write effective emails that reach your customers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Read articles that tell you how to use opt-in email lists

Start with the basics: how to format email newsletters, how to build traffic to your website and how to make sure your emails arrive properly. Learn how to write an effective subject line so recipients want to open and read your emails. Make sure your email contains an action point, something you want your reader to do when they've finished reading.

I recommend: Choose from a list of how-to articles from Arial Software. Read several extensive multi-part articles telling how to use email marketing from Web Marketing Today. Pick from a group of helpful articles on email marketing issues from SubscriberMail&trade.

Get tips and information on issues regarding opt-in email marketing services

There are many issues you will want to learn about before you attempt opt-in email advertising. These include how to manage your list, what to do if you get put on a blacklist, how to measure your success and how often to send out your emails. The more you learn, the more successful you may be.

I recommend: Read a list of articles on various issues regarding email marketing, including copywriting, strategy and how to avoid looking like spam, at EmailResults.com. Choose from a group of articles containing email marketing tips at The Opt-In Email Marketing Resource Center. Find a list of email marketing articles at HTMail.

Learn all about email marketing from providers of opt-in email marketing software

A provider of an opt-in email marketing tool knows all about opt-in direct email marketing, so its website makes a good source of information. Also, it pays to check out the support system for information that you will be using, if you decide to use software.

I recommend: Check out the resource center at SimplyCast, where you can read a glossary, access eMarketing tools and get tips and support. Find podcasts, white papers, a webinar and newsletter from Listrak. Learn about features included in a good permission-based email marketing solution from Fathom SEO. Browse through the learning center at Constant Contact, where you can watch live demos, brows by topic, find a regional seminar or read one of a number of helpful articles.